The Little Sisters
by CatherineCameo
Summary: The inhabitants of 221B Baker Street meet people they never knew existed.
1. Chapter 1

On a warm day in April, two taxis pulled to a stop outside 221B Baker Street in London. The doors of each cab swung open and a girl stepped out of each. One girl was short and plump with curly black hair; the other was of average height with very straight light brown hair.

The cabbies helped their respective passengers unload a suitcase and each girl paid her cab driver. The dark haired girl added a generous tip; the light haired one a minimal one.

Four legs carried two bodies to the dark blue door of 221B. Two fists rose in unison and knocked.


	2. Chapter 2

An elderly woman in a purple dress opened the door. "Hello, what can I do for you?" She greeted the girls kindly.

"I'm here to see Sherlock Holmes?" The black haired girl said.

"I want to see John Watson." The skinny girl said stiffly.

"Of course, do come in." The woman said with a smile.

The skinny brunette entered first, shoving her suitcase ahead of her. The chubby girl shrugged and followed.

Without waiting for an invitation, the brunette ran up the stairs. The elderly woman turned to the other girl. "Bit rude, isn't she?"

The girl nodded. "I don't know who she is. She can't be a friend of Sherlock's, he doesn't have friends." She smiled and stuck out her hand. "I'm Xena Holmes; Sherlock's little sister."

"I'm Mrs. Hudson." The woman said, grasping Xena's outstretched hand.

"May I go upstairs? I can't wait to see Sherlock!"

"Of course, dear. Go right ahead." Mrs. Hudson said.

Xena hurried up the stairs. Dropping her bag at the door to the living room, she ran in and threw her arms around her older brother. "Sherlock!" She squealed.

He looked down at Xena. "I was just getting to know John's little sister." Sherlock freed himself from Xena's grasp.

Xena knew about John Watson, but nothing Mycroft had told her prepared her for his actual self. He wasn't much taller than his sister, the skinny girl who'd barged into the flat seconds earlier. Mycroft had told Xena that he was a former soldier. For a brief second, she pondered how he had looked in his uniform.

Xena glanced at the girl, who was staring at her creepily. She cuddled up to her brother. "What's she doing?" Xena asked in a stage whisper.

"Deducing." The girl said simply.

Sherlock raised an eyebrow. "You can't deduce; you aren't a Holmes."

"I bet she can't deduce." The girl said, with a glare at Xena.

"No." Xena said with a smile, "My brothers got the brains and the height; I got the manners."

The girl muttered something that sounded like, "And the beauty."

"Speaking of manners," John began, with a pointed glance at the girl.

She seemed to shake herself. "Sorry. I'm Lucy Watson, John's little sister."

"Xena Holmes and this is my brother Sherlock."

"I know." Lucy said.

"John's told you, then." Xena said softly.

"Yes." Lucy said.

"No." John and Sherlock said simultaneously.

"Liars don't make good impressions, Lucy." Sherlock remarked.

It was quiet until John interrupted awkwardly, "Right. Anybody want tea?"

"I'll help." Xena said quickly and followed John to the kitchen.

"I have to say," John began. "You're not what I expected." He opened and closed cabinets, searching for the tea.

"You weren't expecting me, though." Xena commented.

"How'd you know?" John asked, sounding scared.

"I didn't," Xena responded, pulling a box of tea from the microwave. "But _I_ was surprised when you said that girl was your sister." She walked over to the fridge. "And Sherlock never talks about his family if he can help it."

John filled the teakettle with water. "You are nothing like your brothers." He paused, turning off the tap. "You're so nice."

Xena grinned and opened the fridge. Her grin turned into a frown and she shouted, "Sherlock Holmes, why is there no milk!"

"It's okay, I like lemon in my tea." Lucy said from the doorway.

Xena ignored her and stomped into the living room.

Sherlock was pretending to read a book. Xena drapped her arms around his neck and tried to wrestle the book out of his hands.

"What." Sherlock said.

"Where is the milk?"

"What milk?"

"The milk that is supposed to be in the fridge for your lovely baby sister to drink when she visits you."

"Don't you drink tea?" Lucy asked, taking a sip from the cup in her hands.

"No."

Sherlock looked up. "Couldn't you deduce that?" He asked in an innocent voice.

Lucy's face reddened. "I can't deduce."

"Obviously." Sherlock muttered.

"Face it Luce. You are a terrible liar." John said gently.

Lucy sank onto the sofa and cradled the cup in her hands. "I was trying to impress you; to not be boring. John's told me now much you hate ordinary people."

"Be glad you're ordinary." Xena said gently, "Sherlock doesn't embarrass people with mundane lives."

Lucy sighed. "How much do you really know, Sherlock?"

Xena shook her head as Sherlock opened his mouth. She sure hoped Lucy hadn't done anything embarrassing recently.

"I know that you go to public school because of your sneakers. Your parents can't afford the private education they gave Jon because they insist on bailing your sister even though she hardly deserves it. You've come to visit John because you don't trust Harry. Your parents are in America and you'd like a calm, relaxing school holiday. You'll get one too, if no one gets murdered. You're a virgin because you've never really wanted to have sex. You've recently been feeling conflicted because you're a devout Catholic and you have been considering the fact that you might be gay. Don't waste your time on it, you're hardly straight."

"Piss off." Lucy muttered, her face bright red.

"Lucy!" John scolded.

"It's alright," Xena interrupted. "People say that all the time. It's good for his ego."

Sherlock tilted his head to the side and studied Lucy. "I've upset you."

"I wonder why." Xena said and rolled her eyes at Sherlock. "It's rude to talk about someone's sexual identity like that."

"It is?" Sherlock asked, curious.

"Yes, Sherlock." John said, almost patiently. "It's very rude because A, she is my sister and B, she may not feel comfortable having other people talk about the way she has sex."

"I'm a virgin." Lucy whispered hoarsely.

"So am I." Xena said gently. "And so is Sherlock." She smiled at John. "Although I'm not a lesbian and Sherlock's not gay."

Lucy caught the way Xena's smiled at John. "Wait," She said slowly and turned to look at her older brother. "Are you…"

John took a deep breath through his nose. "For the last time," He said, his voice dangerously quiet. "I AM NOT GAY!"

"Which is fine, by the way." Sherlock said and smirked at everyone.

John's face turned bright red and took deliberate steps out of the room. "I have a girlfriend, by the way." He called over his shoulder. "It's more than you can do, Sherlock."

Sherlock shrugged his shoulders.

"Excellent job, Sherlock." Xena said sarcastically. "You manage to embarrass two Watsons in under twenty minutes."

Sherlock took his violin off the bookshelf. Xena wandered towards the window and pulled back the curtain.

"Play something, Sherlock! The Queen is here!"


	3. Chapter 3

Sherlock smirked and let the bow dance across the strings. As if on cue, a pompous looking man appeared in the doorway.

"Mycroft!" Xena shrieked and ran to hug the older man. He leaned down and lifted her off the ground into a hug.

"You're getting heavy." Mycroft complained and set her down quickly.

"I know but there are so many girls with birthdays in the spring. And I'm friends with all of them, so they give me extra cake at their parties."

"Cake." Mycroft groaned. "Tell me about it." He sighed and sank into John's chair.

Xena took the umbrella from her older brother's hand. "It's not raining today, My."

Mycroft gave her a patient smile. "April showers, bring May flowers."

Xena fingered the handle of the umbrella and impulsively pushed the button to open it up.

"Don't!" Mycroft said, leaning forward. But his reflexes were too slow. With a satisfying bang, the umbrella blew an elegant little bullet hole in the ceiling.

"Wow." Xena said, impressed.

"Give me that!" Mycroft snatched the umbrella from his sister.

"And they say "bad luck" is the only thing that comes from opening an umbrella indoors." Sherlock said.


	4. Chapter 4

"What the hell is going on in here?" John shouted. He'd obviously just woken up from a nap.

"John." Lucy said quietly from her chair, watching the three Holmes siblings with interest.

He looked around wildly. "Were you fooling with my gun again, Sherlock? Where is it?"

"John I'm sorry…" Xena began.

Sherlock and Mycroft exchanged a quick glance.

John continued his rant. "Ohh, Sherlock. Mrs. Hudson's gonna be pissed."

"It's just a little hole, John." Lucy said. "Besides, I bet you don't even know where it is."

Xena sent her a greatful look.

"Of course I do, it's on the wall again." John gestured to the wall in a vague way.

"Wrong!" Sherlock said in an unemotional tone.

"The ceiling, John. How many times have I told you, look up and maybe you'll see something interesting."

John glanced up at the ceiling. The hole was small, but he hadn't noticed it.

"See, John. It's nothing to get upset about." Lucy said calmly.

"Alright, alright." John muttered. "I won't tell Mrs. Hudson." He left the room and went upstairs again.

Mycroft pulled his antique pocket watch from his pocket. "I hate to break up the touching reunion, but I must be going." He stood.

Xena pouted. "Do you have to Mycroft?"

"Yes, dear." He leaned down and hugged her.

"Love you, My." She muttered. "Say hello to Anthea for me, will you?"

"Of course." Mycroft marched out of the flat in his unique, pompous way.

"Where are we supposed to sleep?" Lucy asked suddenly.

"You're tired already?" Sherlock asked.

"Of course not. But I'd like to know where to put my stuff."

Xena turned to Sherlock, her grey eyes glowing. "Can we camp out in the living room?"

"Xena," Sherlock said in a condescending tone. "Sleeping on the living room floor is hardly camping."

"I know," Xena impatiently. "But I think it would be fun to have a sleepover." She glanced over at Lucy.

"Yeah, it sounds fun." The girl said slowly.

"Great, I'll get some blankets." Xena ran off.

"I'll be upstairs." Sherlock said and left.

Lucy stood silently, staring at the couch. She'd never been on a sleepover before. She didn't have friends. Only popular girls had sleepovers and gossiped and did each other's nails and hair.


	5. Chapter 5

Xena reentered the living room, almost hidden under a pile of blankets. She dumped them on the floor.

"So," Lucy began, but realized that her sentence had no end.

"So, how about we give each other facials and paint each other's nails."

"Um, sure." Lucy replied. "I'll, uh, change into my pajamas first."

"Okay!" Xena said cheerfully.

Lucy went into the bathroom to change, shutting the door tightly behind her. She valued her privacy.

Xena opened her suitcase and rummaged through it. At the bottom was a large plastic bag filled with nail polish bottles. She took out the bag and set it aside. She pulled out a two bags of microwavable popcorn and made her way to the kitchen.


	6. Chapter 6

The warm, buttery smell of popcorn was still in the air as Xena and Lucy sat face to face on floor. Xena had lined up the nail polish in five rows of eight bottles each on the lumpy blankets.

"What's your favorite color?" Xena asked hoping to get a conversation out of Lucy.

The girl shrugged and dipped a hand into the bag of popcorn. "Blue."

"Here." Xena held out a bottle of navy blue polish. "You can do your nails if you want."

Lucy blushed. "Actually, um." She paused. "I've never worn nail polish before."

Xena grinned. "Well, it's time to start." She patted her knee. "Put your hand here and spread your fingers out."

She complied and rested her cool hand on Xena's warm knee. Xena opened the bottle and terrible stench filled the room. Lucy took her hand off Xena's knee and pinched her nose. "Is it supposed to smell that bad?"

Xena looked surprised. "That's how it always smells." She grabbed back the other girl's hand. "Now, stay still."

Lucy reluctantly spread her fingers out again. Xena brushed quick strokes of cold, dark blue polish over Lucy's fingernails.

"So what do you think of Sherlock?" Xena asked.


	7. Chapter 7

_Did she really have to ask that question? _Lucy thought to herself. The truth was she'd had a crush on him ever since John had told her about Sherlock. She'd been curious and had Googled her brother's flatmate. Lucy Watson had found several pictures in which Sherlock looked rather attractive.

Xena looked up and smirked. "Ohh, you like him." She teased.

Lucy blushed.

Xena wrinkled her nose. "It's kind of weird actually. Lots of girls go crazy over him."

"They do?" Lucy asked.

"Sure. Lots of girls have pictures of him tapped to their bedroom walls."

Lucy laughed. "That's kind of creepy."

"I agree." Xena screwed the cap onto the nail polish bottle. "That's how I got all my friends." She sighed and picked out a hot pick shade of polish. "They're not my real friends, though. They were crazy for me as soon as they found out I have shirtless pics of him."

"WHAT?" Lucy asked.

"Not kidding." Xena said. She pulled a glossy iPhone from her pocket. "Wanna see?"

Lucy grinned. "Sure."

Xena handed Lucy the phone. Staring up at her in pixelated form was Sherlock Holmes, wearing nothing but something that looked like a sheet. Nothing in her wildest dreams could have prepared her for the amazingly sculpted perfection of his porcelain colored chest.

Xena eased the phone from Lucy's limp fingers. "Mycroft, that's our brother, sent it to me. I've made a ton of friends that way."

Lucy sighed. "Sherlock Holmes is a gift from God Himself."

Xena raised her eyebrows. "Right. What about you? Got any shirtless pics of John?"

"Uh, no. That's just weird." Lucy said. "Anyway, he's nothing compared to Sherlock."

"Prove it." Xena said.

Lucy pulled her flip phone from her suitcase and turned it on. She actually had a camera on this piece of crap. She opened the pictures folder. There were a handful of pictures from the Watson family trip to the seaside a couple of years ago. "Here." She handed the piece of crap her parents passed off to her as a phone to Xena.

The dark haired girl squinted at the small screen. "He looks pretty good to me."

Lucy looked over at Xena. "You know, since we have crushes on each other's brothers, I guess we could be friends."

Xena let the phone drop. "Friends? Oh, yeah. We are totally bffs!" She squealed and hugged Lucy.


	8. Chapter 8

Lestrade called Sherlock the next morning. Sherlock was excited, a bombing at a girl's private school! He danced around the room and shouted, "A bombing, oh, it's Christmas!"

John rolled his eyes and agreed to follow Sherlock to the crime scene but insisted that they leave the girls a note. Reluctantly, Sherlock scribbled a quick note in capital letters: _GOT A CASE FROM SCOTLAND YARD. MAY BE GONE ALL DAY. STAY AT BAKER STREET._

Sherlock practically flew out of 221B and John struggled to keep pace with the detective. Sherlock hailed a cab and the men were on their way to New Scotland Yard.

Sherlock and John took the lift to the floor with the offices, where Lestrade met them.

"We're got a witness, but she's in a state of shock and she won't talk. Whatever you do, don't scare her."


	9. Chapter 9

Sherlock turned down his coat collar before charging into the office, Anderson and Donavan shaking their heads at him.

He stopped short when he saw the girl. She was pale and skinny, with her knees pulled up to her chest, and chin tucked in. She looked up and stared at him with haunting brown eyes. On the table in front of her was a spiral bound school notebook, open to the first page. A pen was resting on blank page.

Sherlock sat down on the opposite side of the table. "I'm Sherlock Holmes, I'm a detective and I'm here to help you."

The girl blinked. She picked up the pen and paused, pen poised. She scrawled something in the notebook and passed it to him.

He glanced down at the page. _You're not wearing a badge. Why should I trust you?_

This girl was smarter than most, he realized. "Do you trust Lestrade?"

She nodded.

"He needs my help to get to the bottom of this. I'd appreciate it if you helped us. Scotland Yard has a criminal to catch."

The girl slid the notebook towards her and wrote a quick line.

Sherlock read the words after she set the pen down. _It wasn't just a bomb._

She gave him a curious look.

He shrugged. "I can read upside-down."

The girl nodded and continued writing. _There was a shooting, too. I'm forbidden to talk to anyone about who did it, that's why I can't talk out loud. She didn't say I couldn't communicate. _The girl smirked a little.

"_She_ is the killer?"

_No. She is Meghan killer is her friend, Amber Moran. _The girl wrote.

Lestrade burst in. "Time's up; doctor's orders." He turned to Sherlock. "Got anything?"

"It was not a bombing."

"What do you mean, it wasn't a bombing? The place was in shambles. Glass everywhere; girls crying."

"Blood on everything." Anderson offered.

"It was a cover-up." Sherlock murmured.

"What?" Lestrade asked.

Anderson continued, as if to reassure himself. "We found the actual bomb."

Sherlock shook his head. "Nothing," He noticed the girl's notebook had disappeared. He raised his eyebrows at her but she just nodded.

Lestrade tapped his chin. "She's fine, no physical damage. She's still in shock though, needs someplace to stay…"

"She's doesn't have a family or relatives?" Sherlock asked.

Donavan entered, looking distressed. "The records have been destroyed, sir. There's no way to contact her family." She turned to the girl. "Can't you tell us your name, sweetie? We're only trying to help you."

The girl shook her head.

"She can stay at Baker Street." Sherlock said, out of the blue.

"Sherlock, that goes against regulations. She's a minor and we can't put her anywhere without consent."

"My sister and John's sister are staying with us at the moment, I'm sure they can watch out for her." Sherlock said.

Donavan's eyes widened. "You have a sister, freak?"

"Is she as freaky as you, freak?" Anderson asked.

Sherlock ignored them. "Do you want to stay at Baker Street?"

The girl nodded; smiling.


	10. Chapter 10

John and Sherlock and the girl took the lift down to the ground floor of Scotland Yard. When they exited the lift, John could contain his outburst no longer. "Did you really just kidnap a teenage girl, Sherlock? How do you even know she wants to go to Baker Street with us? There's no room with Lucy and Xena there."

"John, do shut up. I didn't kidnap her, she wanted to come." Sherlock glided out the shiny glass doors.

The girl trailed after him and John brought up the lead. Sherlock raised his arm for a taxi and they slid into it together, the girl in the middle.

"Baker Street." Sherlock ordered the driver and turned his attention to the window.

John studied the girl beside him. He smiled. "I'm John Watson. I'm sorry but I didn't catch your name."

The girl nodded and glanced at Sherlock. "It's fine; you can trust him." He said.

The girl pulled the notebook from under her shirt and a pen from her pocket. She opened the book and scribbled something quickly. The girl passed the notebook to John.

_Pleased to meet you, John. Sorry I can't talk, I've been threatened. I'm a witness to the bombing that happened last night._

John's face showed obvious sympathy. "Crazy kids these days." He grumbled.

The girl nodded.

"Here you are." The driver called out. The passengers got out of the cab and Sherlock led the girl inside. John sighed when he realized Sherlock was making him pay. He paid the cabbie and entered 221B.


	11. Chapter 11

Lucy and Xena were lounging on the couch in their pajamas in front of the telly eating ice cream. The door opened and Sherlock marched in.

"Hi, Sherlock." The two girls greeted without looking up.

The silent girl looked to Sherlock for instruction. "I've got someone I want you to meet. She's a witness in a case Lestrade gave me."

"Oh, goody, you've got a case Sherlock!" Xena said.

Lucy looked up. "Oi, who are you?"

The girl scribbled something in her notebook and held it up. _Sophy Kratides._

"She'll need fresh clothes and a shower. Would you loan her something, Xena?"

"Sure." Xena sprang to her feet. As a child, Xena remember Sherlock had often brought strange people into the Holmes mansion. At times she'd been afraid of them, but Xena had never seen anyone standing beside her brother who looked so innocent. She motioned for the girl to follow her to the bathroom.

"I'll bring you some clothes, Sophy."

Sophy only nodded. Thirty minutes later, she had showered and was dressed in a Lucy's jeans and her own bra. The bathroom floor felt far too damp under her bare feet. Sophy left the bathroom, only to run into John, who quickly covered his eyes.

"I didn't see anything." He stammered.

"Get over yourself, John. She's wearing a bra." Lucy called.

Sherlock looked up from John's laptop. "Do you always walk around half-dressed?"

Sophy quickly slid her shirt over her head. "Sorry. I'm not used to having guys around. I go to an all-girls school, you know."

"I wasn't complaining." Sherlock deadpanned.

Xena slapped his arm. "Flirting will get you nowhere."

"I wasn't flirting." Sherlock corrected. "Flirting implies that two people like each other enough to want to spend more time in each other's company. I was merely stating a fact."

Sophy only blushed.

"All right, who wants takeaway?" John broke in, to kill the awkward silence before it developed.

"Me." Lucy and Xena chorused.

"I wouldn't mind Chinese myself." Sherlock intoned.

John stared at Sherlock and then glanced towards the window. _Now would be a good time for a pig to fly by._ He thought.

Xena grinned. "He does eat, John. A person can't get to be Sherlock's height without eating."

John nodded and turned to Sophy. "Would you like something as well?"

She hesitated before nodding.

"You'd prefer Greek, however?" Sherlock questioned.

Sophy turned to him in surprise.

"Wasn't it obvious?" Sherlock asked.

The shocked looks on the faces of the others in the room told him that it was certainly not obvious.

Sherlock sighed. Was it really that difficult for them to notice? "Her name, it's Greek."

Sophy looked pleased and reached for the notebook on the coffee table. She paused and seemed to reconsider. "Oh, damn it all." She muttered. "It's too much effort to write everything down."

"It's perfectly safe to talk here, if you don't say anything about the people who've threatened you." Sherlock assured her.

"Thanks." Sophy said and looked down at her hands. "Until this morning, I went to the school that was bombed." She looked over at John and the two girls, who had set down their tubs of ice cream to listen. "It's an all-girl's school and I was sent there by my Uncle Melas. I think that's about all I can say out loud."

"Are you really Greek?" Lucy asked.

"Yeah." Sophy said. "I'm kind of hungry, can we get some Chinese?"

John dialed the number of the Chinese restaurant they usually ordered takeaway from. The food arrived within ten minutes and everyone had scraped their cartons clean in the same amount of time. Sophy reached out for a fortune cookie.

"Don't open it." Sherlock's tone surprised everyone. "It will only make you stressed, Sophy."

She stared at him. "I have to know." She said simply and tore off the plastic wrapper.

Sherlock grabbed the cookie from her hand and crushed it to powder. He examined the slip of paper inside. It read, _The only thing we have to fear is fear itself_.

Silently, Sherlock handed the paper to Sophy. She sneered at it. "I'm not afraid of fear, I'm afraid of a name."

"_Her_ name?" Sherlock asked.

Sophy only nodded.


	12. Chapter 12

John insisted that it was time for the girls to catch some sleep. They protested but John eventually won out because Xena and Lucy had pulled an all-nighter and their sugar high was starting to wear off. They trudged off to change into their pajamas.

"Sherlock?" John asked.

"No." Sherlock answered. He was not letting the silent Greek girl invade his bedroom even if he never slept in it.

"I hope you don't mind sleeping in the living room. I'm sure the girls will let you have the coach." John said apologetically. Sherlock was obviously not aware that it was common courtesy to offer a guest the best bed in the house.

"Thank you." Sophy said with a smile. "I won't make you give up your bed for me, sir."

"John. John Watson." He responded. It was weird having a little girl call him sir.

"Well, thank you John."


	13. Chapter 13

Sophy knew from the soft snores that were coming from the direction of the floor that Xena and Lucy were asleep. She couldn't sleep and her throat felt very dry. Sophy stood up softly and made her way to the kitchen. She fumbled in the dark for the teacup she'd seen earlier. She took the cup and filled it with water from the sink. Sophy lifted the teacup to take a drink when she felt gentle hands fall on her shoulders.

She almost dropped the cup. "Thirsty?" Sherlock asked in a deep but gentle whisper.

"Yeah." Sophy stammered. "I couldn't sleep."

"You want to talk about her, don't you?" He murmered.

Sophy nodded, even though she guessed he probably couldn't see her nodding.

"Follow me; we can talk in my room." Sherlock grabbed her wrist and pulled her to a darker section of the flat.

His room. Sophy realized. Any sane teenage girl would have objected, of course. But Sophy's mind didn't jump immediately to sex. She knew she had to tell someone about the threats Meghan could carry out.

Sherlock let go of her wrist and Sophy heard the door close softly. The lights flickered on, temporarily blinding her. She blinked.

Sherlock had her notebook in his hands. "You can sit down on the bed, if you like."

Sophy sat down and placed the teacup beside her. She took the pen and notebook from Sherlock's hands. _I met Meghan Moriarty last year. She's a popular girl at school but it's because girls are afraid of her. Amber is the girl who is closest to being a friend to her as Meghan has. Meghan's an actress. She says her older brother Jim inspired her. I've always been a little afraid of Meghan, but today she gave me a reason to be afraid. I woke up later than usual this morning, so I was late to breakfast. When I entered the dining room there was glass everywhere and every single one of the girls was lying dead on the floor. All the teachers were dead, too._

"But not Meghan and Amber." Sherlock had sat down across from her on the bed.

_No. Meghan approached me and said, "Look Amber, we forgot someone." Amber came up behind me and said, "We don't have any more bullets."_

_Meghan stared up at me. Then she said, "You know exactly what happened here but you won't tell anyone. I will make your life miserable if you say anything to anyone about what happened here." Then they left._

"Did Meghan say anything else?"

Sophy shrugged. "She said, 'Ta ta for now.' I called 999 after that."

"She doesn't want to kill you." Sherlock mused. Meghan was exactly like her brother.

"No." Sophy said. "I told you everything I know and now I'm going to pay."

"You just tested Meghan's rules. She said you couldn't tell anyone anything and you didn't tell me. You wrote things down."

"I guess." Sophy wiped the sweat from her forehead. The room was stuffy and hot, even at night.

"Take your shirt off, if you're hot." Sherlock advised.

Sophy saw it as a dare. She stripped off her tank top. The air in the still room cooled her almost-bare back.

"Sherlock?" She whispered.

"Hmm."

"I'm scared."

Then Sherlock did something he didn't expect he would do. He wrapped his arms around her. Sophy leaned back.

"I won't let anyone hurt you, Sophy." Sherlock tossed her notebook and pen on the floor. He walked over to the door and switched off the light. Sophy heard a soft thump as something hit the floor. She felt the bed dip as Sherlock lowered himself onto it. "You can sleep here tonight."

Sophy kicked back the cool sheets and lay down. Sherlock draped his arms around her. She felt safe with her head against his hard, bare chest.


	14. Chapter 14

Sophy awoke the next morning when her mobile made a text alert noise. She glanced at the message. _You thought you found a loophole, did you? Well, you're wrong. -MM_

_Meet us at the Pool. -MM_

Sophy slipped out of Sherlock's bed and dressed quietly. She snuck out of the flat and took a cab to the pool, the same one where John Watson had been a human bomb. But Sophy didn't know that. She had tucked John's gun into the waistband of her shorts. It couldn't hurt to be prepared.

The pool was silent and empty in the early morning. Light reflected off the water and made patterns dance on the ceiling. Sophy had the feeling she was being watched.

"Hello!" Meghan sang out.

Sophy stiffened her back to make herself appear bolder.

"Nice day, isn't it?" Amber added, her voice coming from the shadows.

"It's as good a day as any to kill you." Sophy pulled the gun from her shorts, raised it and fired.

Meghan crumpled to the ground. "Missed me." She called out and sprang to her feet again.

Sophy fired again. This time Meghan fell and lay still. Sophy turned around, intending to shoot Amber. The tall, muscular blonde girl was nowhere to be seen.

Sophy lowered her shaking arm. "Amber. I know you're still here."

The pool was silent. "You have one minute before I blow this place sky-high." Amber's voice echoed. The blonde girl towered above Sophy. Without hesitating, Sophy raised the gun and fired a third time.

Amber fell to the tiled floor.

Sophy pulled her phone out from her bra. _I love you, Sherlock. _She typed and hit Send.

Then she pressed the gun between her breasts and fired.

The shot rang out across the silent room. Footsteps pounded on the tiles. John skidded to a stop when he saw the three girls lying on the cold floor.

Sherlock ran on towards Sophy. He knelt beside her and lifted her in his arms. "NO!" His shout made the silence shatter.

"She's dead?" John was afraid. He knew the answer. He had seen death in many forms as a soldier.

Sherlock clung to Sophy's limp body, her blood spilling out from her chest and staining him.


	15. Chapter 15

Sherlock covered his face with his hands and allowed himself to cry. Surely they wouldn't deny him one lapse into emotion?

John stood a little distance away with his arms wrapped around Xena and Lucy. Mycroft stood beside Sherlock, his face devoid of all emotion. He spoke in a voice only Sherlock could hear. "All lives end, all hearts are broken. Caring is not an advantage."

"Shut up Mycroft." Sherlock growled.


	16. Chapter 16

Many months later, when Sherlock stared down Irene Adler, he said "Sentiment is a chemical defect found on the losing side."

She never knew he was speaking from personal experience.


End file.
